American Graduate

Southern Education Desk

Dolphin Lifesavers Part 1

Video Overview

Bottlenose dolphins are the Navy's best defense against dangerous underwater explosives - called mines. At the Marine Mammal Program in San Diego, California, these amazing animals are trained to find mines and then flag their location. It sounds risky - but it's not. Mines are designed to go off when ships bump into them - not dolphins. The dolphins are born and raised at the base - where there are dozens of scientists and handlers who take care of them and study their behavior. They are trained with love and, of course, lots of tasty fish. In return, they use their unique biosonar ability, called echolocation, to do a job that's impossible for humans or robots. They can quickly and accurately locate mines buried deep under the ocean floor. These dolphins are great at their job, and their mine-hunting missions have found hundreds of mines and saved countless lives.